Across the universe(s)
by SyzygyDreamland
Summary: My entries for the January 2017 Swan Queen Week! (theme: Altrernative universes cubed) - Now complete
1. Day 1: Heartbeats

_Hi everybody! I'm so excited about this new Swan Queen Week! Here's my entry for day 1, in which Emma is in a band and Regina is an actress. As usual, I own nothing and I'm just taking Regina, Emma & co for a spin._

 _I hope you'll have as much fun reading it as I did writing it, and I hope all of you have an amazing Swan Queen Week! Stay awesome, Swen!_

* * *

"And we're now live from LA for The Mares' concert! They're ending their world tour right at home, and we'll be broadcasting their show live, so stay tuned! They should be starting in about 15 minutes, so not much longer to wait now for the fans who've –"

Regina turned the radio off and stood up from where she was seated. She looked around the trailer and smiled happily at her son. Henry was slumped in a comfy armchair and had just looked up from his phone. He raised an eyebrow as he saw his mother had stood up.

"Where are you going? Is it time?"

"Well we should go out soon, if we don't want to miss the beginning. But I'd like to wait for your mom to go back first. She should be done with makeup soon." As she was speaking, Regina had crossed over to her son and was ruffling his hair. She quickly glanced at his phone to see what had him staring at his screen in silence for the past 10 minutes.

"Mom!" Henry whined, trying to put the phone back in his pocket before his mom could see the screen. He wasn't quick enough though, and Regina had time to see he was exchanging texts with a certain Paige. The name sounded familiar to Regina; she probably went to school with Henry.

"Paige is in my English class. We're paired up on a project" Henry muttered, blushing all the way to his ears. Regina hummed and kissed the top of his head, taking advantage that he was sitting down and thus not taller than her.

"You're getting too big" she complained softly. "My big boy."

"Mom, I'm 16, you don't have to call me that. It makes me feel like I'm five all over again. Besides, you'll have a very little boy – or girl – again in a few months." As he said this, Henry gestured to Regina's baby bump. At four months pregnant, it was still relatively discreet but undeniably there. Regina had made quite the sensation at the Oscars, a couple days back, by walking down the red carpet as a nominee and in a tight dress, while not having made any pregnancy announcement before.

The door of the trailer opened and Henry jumped to his feet. In came Emma Swan, Regina's girlfriend.

"Well, well, well, if this isn't Academy Award winner Regina Mills and her son, who's turning out to be quite the teenage heartthrob!" Emma joked, quoting word for word a press article that'd been released the day before and had caused Regina to roll her eyes and sigh heavily at the word "heartthrob".

"And here is Emma Swan of the world renowned girl band The Mares!" Henry answered in an exaggeratedly enthusiastic voice. "Mom wanted to see you before we go sit down."

"I wanted to wish you luck before you went on stage, and to give you this…" Regina stood on the tip of her toes and gave Emma a soft kiss, lingering a couple seconds too long for Henry to be completely comfortable watching them.

"Thanks for coming tonight. I'm sure you'll love the show" Emma said after their kiss ended.

"Always so modest" Regina commented with a wink. "I know it'll be great. Well, Henry and I should go take our seats. See you onstage?"

Emma watched her son and girlfriend leave the trailer together, and her three band mates come in right after them. Mary Margaret, Ashley and Ruby were all ready to go, and the four women took a few minutes to go through their pre-concert ritual together.

The concert was already well in its third hour. Regina and Henry were immensely enjoying themselves in the VIP section, and Emma looked just as happy on stage. The band had just finished performing "Heartbeats", one of their most romantic songs that Emma had written with Regina in mind. Suddenly, Emma started speaking into her microphone.

"I wrote this song with someone very specific in mind: the love of my life. She's here tonight and I want to dedicate this song, this show, hell, everything good in my life to her, because I owe her every single happy thing that's been happening to me lately." Emma turned toward the VIP section and gave Regina the widest of smiles. "Regina, you're the magic in my life. You're an exceptional woman, the best mother to our son and overall the greatest person I've ever met. I'm proud of you in everything you do, and I'm so thankful for you. But I feel like there's one last thing missing. So, and please don't hate me for doing it in front of everyone… Marry me?" There was a moment of silence all over the crowd, and Regina felt like all of her blood was rushing to her feet. She held onto Henry's shoulder for balance. The teenager had an exceptionally large smile as he looked at his mom and wrapped an arm around her.

"Wait, there's a ring! Kid, give your mom the ring!" Emma exclaimed, suddenly remembering about it. Emma's forgetfulness and spontaneity caused the audience to laugh wholeheartedly.

Henry handed his mother the jewelry box. The ring was timeless and sober, and exactly what Regina liked. One of the tech crew members walked over to them with a microphone, and Henry held it to his mom's mouth.

"Of course I'll marry you, Emma."

The entire stadium erupted in cheers, and Mary Margaret, Ashley and Ruby all high fived in the back. Emma blew her now fiancée a kiss, before exclaiming "Awesome! Now, before I can go and really kiss my fiancée, let's wrap this all up with 'Number one'!"


	2. Day 2: Hazelnut cappuccino

_Hello again! Here is day 2, in which Emma and Regina are both college students. As usual, I own nothing and I'm just having fun writing cute situations for our two ladies.  
_

 _I hope you'll enjoy this piece, and I'll leave you to it!_

* * *

By the time the brunette with the blue blazer and the laptop sticking out of her book bag had reached the counter, Emma Swan was already whipping out a paper cup and already jotting down her customer's first name.

"Hey, Regina! What's up?"

"Hello, Emma" Regina replied with a smile. "I'm doing well. Midterms are out to get me, but other than this, I can't really complain."

Emma chuckled before pointing to the paper cup in her hand. "The usual? Large hazelnut cappuccino and a white chocolate cookie?"

"Yes, please." Seeing Emma's smug grin, Regina couldn't help but tease. "Oh, you think you know me so well, right? Just because I have incredibly predicable tastes?"

Emma snorted out a laugh. She looked over the coffee machines at Regina, blindly pressing the buttons she knew all too well. "Oh, I know you, Regina. It may not look like it, but I'm paying attention, you know."

Regina, who had been rummaging through her wallet to dig up the exact change, stopped mid-motion. "Really?" Her voice had risen an octave as she miserably tried to hide her surprise and keep her perpetually impassible façade.

"I… I notice things" Emma mumbled, suddenly very red in the face.

"And what did you notice, Emma?" Catching up all too happily on Emma's discomfort, Regina now spoke in a playful tone.

Emma mentally cursed herself for never knowing when to shut up. She'd always been an overeager flirter, and she liked Regina _just_ a little too much to be able to keep her cool around her.

"Well, you always have the same thing when you come here to work." Emma tried to breathe steadily as she enumerated. "And I think I must've seen you a grand total of three times in here with friends, so you're either a loner – which I don't mind, to be clear – or an incredibly focused student – there again, you do you. Or both. I can definitely see you being both. You study political science and history, but I know you've loved the communications and management class you took last semester, because you always smiled a little brighter when you pulled that specific textbook open. I know you love reading, and listening to music. Given the way you've stared at all our pastries the first time I saw you here, I'd say you probably know how to cook for yourself. I know you've taken French and Italian classes, you told me so in September, and I heard you speak Spanish over the phone. When you're very focused, you start twirling a strand of hair between your fingers, and you bite your lower lip when you're hitting a rough spot in your studies. And you…" Emma stopped mid-sentence, suddenly realizing she'd been listing things for way longer than would have been normal, and had probably started sounding like a crazy stalker somewhere along the third sentence. She blushed even more intensely and looked down at the now fuming drink in her hand, not daring to meet Regina's eyes.

"Wow, you're observant." Regina sounded surprised, to say the least, but it was also clear she was very careful not to say anything that might upset Emma. There was a moment of silence as Regina handed the barista money for her order.

"I don't know anything about you, except your name and that you're taking classes at the community college" Regina blurted out. "And that you make an amazing hazelnut cappuccino" she added with a smile, bringing the cup to her lips.

Emma looked up and smiled shyly at her. She couldn't really believe that Regina wasn't running out the door, yelling about how insane Emma was.

"I should get to know you. Around a cup of coffee… or something else, if you don't like coffee. And sometime soon." Regina's words were a little bit hurried, and she struggled a bit to hold Emma's gaze. The blonde, on the other hand, felt like she'd risen to the top of the world and couldn't quite believe her luck. Was Regina, hands down the cutest customer she'd ever served, and very probably a smart and lovely girl, really asking her out?

The joy and excitement prevented Emma from forming coherent sentences, and all she could do was nod furiously and repeat "Yes. Yes. Now? I mean… Yes!"

Regina let out a light-hearted chuckle. "Now?"

"I mean, not if you really have to work. And not now, this very second, but… My shift's over in less than 15 minutes, if you can wait?" Regina chuckled again, and God, how Emma loved that sound! It was equally sobering and intoxicating, and it made her feel like she could move mountains.

"Well, no, I don't _really_ have to work this urgently. And of course I can wait until the end of your shift. In fact, I'll be waiting right _there_ " she said as she pointed to a table nearby, in plain sight from the counter, "and I can't wait for you to join me when you're done."

Both young women smiled at each other, glancing at each other for just one moment longer before Regina went to sit and Emma had to serve the newly arrived next customer, silently celebrating landing a coffee date with her crush.


	3. Day 3: Falling off trees

_Hi Swen lovelies! Here's my entry for day 3 of the Swan Queen Week, in which Regina is a pediatrician and Emma an EMT. As usual, I own nothing and I'm just having fun, blablabla._

 _I hope you like it! I had a lot of fun writing it :)_

* * *

Emma Swan's life was going pretty well at the moment. She loved her job as an EMT, she got along perfectly with her partner, she had loyal friends whose only flaw was that they all worked at the hospital, and most importantly, she had the world's best girlfriend and unofficial stepson: Regina was an exceptional pediatrician and geneticist, with a strong personality and an unsuspectedly big heart, and Henry, eleven years old as of the previous weekend, was a smart, kind and overall great kid. Yes, life could hardly get any better for Emma, and she had been feeling so optimistic lately that she didn't even want to think about her happiness derailing.

She was just walking out of the bathroom and on her way back to the break room to grab some coffee when David, her partner of two years now, came hurrying towards her and tossed her her jacket.

"We've got a call! A 5th grader fell during recess, looks like his arm's broken, according to the teacher. She's also worried about a commotion. Apparently the kid fell from a tree" David said the last part disbelievingly – what kid still climbs trees in this day and age? – and Emma nodded and followed him to their ambulance. She jumped in the passenger seat, leaving David to drive them to the school.

On their way, they exchanged a few pleasantries and jokes. David told her about his wife's newfound obsession with getting pet birds, Emma laughed about Henry's miserable attempt at sneakily staying up past his bedtime the previous weekend, and they complained about the shift schedule for the upcoming month. Emma was in the middle of laughing at one of David's incredibly lousy impression of one of their coworker when she noticed the turn the ambulance took.

She felt her stomach dropping as they neared Henry's school.

"Hey Emma, you okay? You've just gotten a couple shades paler."

"It's nothing, it's just… It's Henry's school." There was an instant of silence as David parked on the playground. "They haven't mentioned any name, by any chance?"

"No. They just said…" David bit his lip and looked worried for a slight moment. "They just said 'a boy', but it doesn't mean it's him, Emma. There are plenty of other boys in 5th grade."

David was right; there was no reason why Henry would be the injured kid. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling of dread that had now taken over her mind.

Her fears were confirmed as she and David arrived where a few adults, including the school nurse, were gathered around a child-sized lump on the ground. She recognized Henry's sneakers and his sweater and took off running towards him.

Emma heavily dropped to her knees by the little boy's head. His eyes were closed and he looked in pain, but she was relieved to see he wasn't covered in blood.

"Hey there, kid."

His eyes snapped open and he had a small strained smile. "Emma."

"Shhh, it's okay, kid. Me and David are going to take care of you, okay?"

Henry nodded miserably. "It hurts, Emma."

She could see he was trying to be brave and not openly cry on the playground, just a few feet away from all his friends. She signaled to David to go kneel on Henry's other side, to block him from view. They completed the routine exam on Henry and quickly came to the conclusion that his left arm was broken, but he didn't look to have a commotion. At this, Emma sighed in relief. David went to get the gurney as she explained Henry and his teacher that they would need to transport him to the hospital for x-rays. She squeezed Henry's right hand in her own, and she briefly wondered who she was really trying to comfort.

The drive back to the hospital was uneventful. Emma rode in the back, never letting go of Henry's uninjured hand, and David kept making his deplorable impressions to distract the little boy.

They were bringing Henry in through the ER when Emma's stomach dropped for the second time that morning, as she heard a cry resonate through the room.

"Henry!" Regina, who was always so calm and composed, sounded hysterical and on the verge of having a nervous breakdown right there in the middle of the ER. She ran towards her son and collided with Emma in the process. She didn't even acknowledge it, rather focusing on her son.

"Oh, Henry! Oh, my poor baby. Your arm – how bad does it hurt? What about your head? Did Emma check you for head trauma? How did you fall _from a tree_? How high was it? What happened? Can you move at all? Don't be scared, you'll be fine. Oh, my little prince –"

Regina was now proceeding to smother him in kisses and flatten his hair on his head.

"Regina, we've booked him for an emergency x-ray… We have to take him" Emma gently whispered.

"Of course!" Regina seemed to snap out of her trance. "I'll go with you –"

"Actually, Dr. Mills…" Mary Margaret, a nurse at the hospital and David's wife, cleared her throat. "We'll need you to fill in some paperwork about Henry. I'm sorry."

If looks could kill, Regina would probably have taken down everyone in the vicinity. She still surrendered and let her son go for the x-rays, to the condition that the radiologist personally showed them to her afterwards.

A couple hours later, Henry was laying on the couch at home, his left arm in a bright green cast and his mother lovingly stroking his hair. Regina had been allowed to leave work early, as it was clear she would not let her son out her sight for the rest of the day.

"You're so brave, my little prince. I'm so proud of you, you didn't even cry."

"Mom, I'm eleven. I'm not a baby anymore" Henry protested weakly, though he was clearly enjoying the compliment.

"I'm still proud of you. And you'll always be my little prince."

Just as Regina was pressing a kiss to Henry's forehead, Emma walked in the living room, having just arrived home from work.

"How's my favorite chimpanzee?" She asked, dropping everything on the floor to go crouch by the boy. Henry shrugged and extended his hand to grab Emma's. They stayed huddled like this for a few moments before Regina spoke again.

"Thank you for taking such good care of him, Emma. I'm sorry I freaked out earlier, it's just – he's…"

"Your little prince" Emma completed, nodding knowingly. "I know." She turned to Henry before adding "You're pretty lucky your mom loves you so much, right?"

Henry hummed in agreement. "I'm lucky to have both my moms, Emma."

The statement brought tears to Emma's eyes. It wasn't the first time Henry said something about having two moms, but it still made her emotional every time. As she squeezed Henry's hand and felt Regina rub her back, she wondered how she had gotten so blessed. Her life was actually going wonderfully right now.


	4. Day 4: The color red

_Hey there! Here's my contribution to day 4 of the Swan Queen Week, in which Emma & Regina live in some alternate universe where you're supposed to find your soulmate at a very young age & know it's true love at first sight. As usual, I own nothing but the next few paragraphs._

 _I hope you all enjoy it! And thank you for taking the time to read my work, it means a lot to me! :)_

* * *

 _They say you know true love at first sight, because suddenly you can see the color red. At least that's what I've been told my whole life. Mother also says everyone has this special someone waiting for them out there – their soulmate. I'm not too sure I believe her. I'm 21 now, and I've not yet met my person. I'm starting to think it's not going to happen for me. When I met Daniel, I thought he was the one. When I realized he wasn't, I still tried to make it work. We were together for two years before he died. Of course, I was heartbroken. I also started wondering if my own soulmate hadn't died; it was the only reason I could think of why I still hadn't met them when all my friends already had. Mother tried to comfort me and told me that when someone dies before meeting their soulmate, their connection to this person is somewhat reallocated. But seeing Kathryn and Mal so happy with their better halves is slowly starting to drive me insane._

 _I have yet to see for myself what red looks like. It sounds beautiful, the way everyone speaks about it. Father said it's so vibrant and warm, it's like looking at love itself, if love was visible to the eye. I guess in some sense it is visible to the eye, otherwise we wouldn't have all that red nonsense. Anyway, I'm tired of all of this. I want to meet my special someone. I hate that half of my wardrobe is this revolting shade of grey. I just can't wait to start living my best life._

Regina closed the journal and slipped it back in her purse. She took a deep breath before emptying what little iced tea was left in her glass. She looked around at her surroundings. Moments like this were her favorite: after being so engrossed in her writing, she always felt so disoriented for a few minutes when she looked up and remembered she was in public. She was about to leave the small café where she loved spending her afternoons; it was a great place to observe people, which was key to Regina's search for love. She had picked up writing on her various stake outs: she found it very relaxing, and over time she'd started dreaming about someday writing a bestseller.

Regina gathered her things and got up to leave. She'd barely made it out the door when she felt a hand grab her shoulder. She quickly whipped around.

A young woman was standing right behind her, apparently surprised at the hostile look on Regina's face. She took a step back and slowly lifted her right hand.

"I'm sorry, I tried to call you but you didn't hear. You forgot this at your table." The young woman handed Regina her pen. Regina profusely thanked her; the pen had been a gift from her father, and she would have hated herself if she'd lost it.

The young woman – Emma, as it turned out – had a pretty smile and laughed easily. She kept running a hand through her blonde curls and was looking at Regina a little bit too intensely for the thoughts running through her mind to be completely platonic.

Emma's cell phone suddenly chirped and both girls broke out of their pleasant conversation, still grinning widely. That was when Regina noticed a detail that almost caused her to drop dead from shock.

Emma's jacket was a color she'd never seen before.

Seeing Regina's face drain off all color, Emma took a step forward and placed a hand on her arm.

"Regina? Are you okay?"

"Your – your jacket – Emma, look at it!"

The blonde looked down at her sleeve. Her mouth gaped and her eyes went round.

"Is that…"

"Red?" Regina's voice was no more than a squeak.

Emma looked up, her green eyes filled with shock. Slowly, a new emotion made her way across her features: she looked genuinely happy.

"Red really is a beautiful color, right? I didn't really believe it before now, but they were right. It's like-"

"Looking at love itself. It's what my father always says." Regina blurted out. She took a breath and shook her head, trying desperately to regain composure. "Emma, would you like to go for a drink? We should get to know each other better, I suppose."

"You bet I would!" Emma turned around to open the door and let Regina in before her. As they both sat down, they couldn't stop smiling.

They sat in comfortable silence for a few moments before Emma broke the silence.

"I have to say… Wow!"

Regina raised an eyebrow, suddenly worried that her soulmate would be incapable of speaking grammatically correct sentences.

"It's probably gonna come out the wrong way, but… Wow, you're really pretty."

Regina started laughing, suddenly a little shy, and Emma quickly followed suite.

"Well, you're really pretty too, Emma."

 _They say you know true love at first sight, and they're right. Seeing the color red is only the first step, though. When it's true love, everything falls right together, and suddenly you can't see yourself with anyone else, even if you've just met them a few minutes ago. That's what it feels like with Emma. She's brave and selfless in ways I could never be, and she makes me laugh. She has such a fresh outlook on life, and such optimism I sometimes envy her. She makes me feel loved and desired at all times, even that one time I was very sick, running a fever and vomiting on the hour every hour. We've only been together a few weeks, but she's already made my life so much better. She's worth every single year I spent looking for her, and now I can't wait to see what the future has in store for the two of us._


	5. Day 5: Waking up

_Hello hello! Day 5 of Swan Queen Week is already upon us, so here's my entry for day I still owning but my ideas, and I'm still hoping you'll enjoy reading my text!_

* * *

Regina woke with a start. She tried to catch her breath and immediately regretted it: it felt as if she was trying to breathe through half a dozen cloths draped over her mouth, and the effort made her ribs hurt. In a fit of coughing, she eventually managed to roll to the side and ease the pain in her ribcage. She kept coughing for a few more minutes, the air wheezing in and out of her parched throat feeling like glass paper. When she had regained enough brain oxygenation to keep her head from spinning too much, she looked up and glared at her surroundings as if they had personally offended her.

The bedchamber was still as impeccably tidy as when the queen had gone to sleep, and a few warm rays of sunlight were shyly piercing through the heavy drapes. There was nothing in the room to indicate what could have roused her from sleep, until Regina heard a metallic noise behind her.

Regina turned around so quickly that she almost fell from her bed, and came face to face with a sword. Or, more precisely, a young woman holding a sword. Regina frowned an tried to sit up more properly, in an attempt to look more menacing.

"Who are you? And what do you think you're doing in here? Also, please don't point that _thing_ at me."

The other woman's big green eyes had been filled with surprise when Regina had turned around. Her expression quickly changed, however, to one of defense at Regina's snarl. Still, she lowered the sword and placed it gently against the bed frame.

"I'm Princess Emma of the White Kingdom. And you're the Evil Queen."

"I'm perfectly aware of who I am, thank you very much" Regina's voice was thick with disdain and dehydration. She searched the young woman's face for a few minutes, grimacing when she got the confirmation of what she was thinking. "You're that idiot Snow White's daughter."

The princess narrowed her eyebrows as she nodded. "You must be incredibly bitter for these to be the first words you say after being asleep for over 20 years."

"Well, excuse me if my conversation skills are not entirely up to your standards, _Princess_. I wasn't exactly expecting to be woken up and have to make small talk with you." Regina's voice was still hoarse from the lack of water, and she couldn't help the next coughing fit that escaped her. Emma jumped up from her seat to hand her a flask, which Regina eyes suspiciously.

"It's water. Drink it, you'll feel better." Upon seeing Regina refuse the drink, Emma shook her head impatiently. "Don't be stupid. If I'd wanted to kill you, I would've done it long ago. Now drink the damned water so you can stop coughing."

Regina took a gulp and, relieved that she wasn't rolling over in agony, took a few more sips until the cough had sustained.

"What do you mean, you would have killed me long ago?" Regina's curiosity took her out of her angry staring at the intruder.

"I, uh… I've been coming here for the past couple years, every once in a while, to check on you." The princess at least had the decency to look embarrassed.

"To check on me?" To say Regina was surprised was an euphemism. Never since her father's death and her subsequent failure at casting the curse had anyone ever bothered to check on her.

"There was talk about some other curse, a couple years ago, so I came to see if perhaps you'd woken up. You were still deep in sleep, so I knew it wasn't you, but you looked so helpless I started thinking – what if someone came in and killed you in your sleep? I've been coming back ever since to make sure it wouldn't happen."

"Why would anyone want to make sure I didn't get killed, least of all you?" None of what the princess made any sense to Regina. If her curse had worked, the young woman and her parents would be cursed to an eternal life of unhappiness, so why would she feel concerned in the slightest about her safety?

As if she was reading her thoughts, the princess answered "It probably doesn't make much sense to you, but… I grew up hearing all about you. About how the Evil Queen had tried to curse us all but – luckily for us – failed and was condemned to a life of exile, where she decided to curse herself rather than remain unhappy and alone. I used to ask my mother about you, about where you were from and how you'd become the Evil Queen. I think I was terrified, at first, that there was no real explanation as to why someone suddenly turned evil, and that I was scared I could accidentally turn evil too… I was a child!" she tried to defend herself when Regina smirked. "Anyway, my mother finally gave in before my relentless questions and told me all she knew about you: how the two of you met, how your mother was, how my mother betrayed your trust and how you were never happy after your boyfriend died… As I grew up, I eventually made sense of all of it, and I understood that your pain and bitterness at other people's happiness made you what we call the Evil Queen, and I ended up feeling sorry for you. So when there was word of this new curse, I used it as an excuse to find out exactly where your castle was, and I came to see you. And then I…" Emma stopped her rant and suddenly blushed deeply. She was breathless and didn't dare look at Regina in the eye anymore.

Regina was left open-mouthed by all the princess had said. Finally, someone had seen her for who she was. In that moment it didn't matter that this someone was her archenemy's daughter that she'd fantasized about killing when she was just an infant; someone finally saw her as a person rather than this one dark, evil and dangerous entity. She looked down at her hands and noticed Emma's hand was just inches away from hers. Without fully registering what she was doing, Regina placed her hand atop Emma's, causing the young woman to look up at her.

"You'll think I'm insane, but… I kept coming back to watch you sleep. You looked so peaceful, unlike in any other portrait of you I'd ever seen. I would stay here, by your bed, for hours and wonder how someone could be driven to such despair that she'd try to pretty much literally set fire to her own kingdom, terrorize her people and then curse herself for all of eternity when she failed. I also looked through your things – I'm sorry. I saw the last books you'd read, and I found your riding journal. The more things I found out about who you really were, the less I could hate you. And I started fearing those who hate you, for what they could do to you while you were so vulnerable. Regina – can I call you Regina?" Regina nodded quickly, urging Emma to go on. "As I watched over you, I think I started falling in love with you."

It was like lightning had just struck Regina. This couldn't be happening. No one except Daniel and her father had ever loved her. There must have been something so utterly unlovable about her that all who loved her ended up dead and with their heart crushed. And yet here she was, this young woman with her kind smile and thoughtful eyes, telling her she'd fallen in love with her as she was asleep and gently rubbing circles on the back of her hand. Regina couldn't find her voice anymore, so she just listened as Emma spoke. Emma spoke of how she sometimes read some of the books to Regina, or how she would update her about the royal stables even though she herself hated horses. She went on to fill Regina in on what had been happening in the kingdom, and Regina was surprised to discover a smart and funny woman, nothing like her dimwitted father and unbearably optimistic mother. Emma kept talking for what felt like hours, until they reached the point in her story where she was animatedly explaining exactly how Regina had woken up.

"… and I took your hand in mine, and I kissed your hand to pay my respects, and then – you moved!"

For the second time that day, Regina felt as if she'd been struck by lightning.

"You… you _kissed_ me?"

Emma's smile faded, surprised at Regina's reaction. "I'm sorry, it was – it was just your hand! I never would've – not while you were asleep! I thought –"

"No no, Emma, I'm not mad, it's just… You _kissed_ me, and I woke up?" Regina's voice was on the edge of breaking, and she repeated that last sentence a couple times until recognition spread across Emma's features.

"Ooooohh! Do you think – True Love's Kiss?"

"I don't know!" Regina was panicking now. She wasn't ready nor prepared for all of this. But as she saw the blissful smile Emma was now sporting, she thought maybe, just maybe, things would be okay now.


	6. Day 6: Be brave

_Hello, hello! Day 6 of the Swan Queen Week, already! My entry for today was loosely inspired by The X-Files' episode "The Sixth Extinction", but there's no real similutde other than the general setting. I still own nothing but the words I typed :)_

 _I hope you like it and thanks for reading!_

* * *

When Regina woke up that morning, she already had a peaceful smile on her face. She knew her day would go by smoothly, and nothing could come alter her happiness. She slowly turned around in her bed, coming face to face with her wife. Emma was still asleep, her features calm and her hair slightly tousled. Regina watched her for a few moments, reveling in how the spring sun was warming her skin through the bedroom window.

She looked at the pictures on their bedside table: one was of Emma and her on their wedding day, and all others featured Henry alongside them. These shots perfectly illustrated how quiet and wonderful her life was, right here, right now.

Looking at those pictures almost made Regina regret her former life. When she'd woken up in this parallel universe, where Henry didn't hate her and Emma saw her as Regina rather than the Evil Queen, she had been so relieved. After years of searching, she had found unconditional love and, at long last, happiness. Since then, her days had gone by in a gentle stream of peace, quiet and sunshine. However, Regina had soon noticed that the people here were not the ones she knew back in her world. The Emma she was married to was dull; she had none of "her" Emma's dorky sense of humor, nor even her temper and stubbornness that Regina had somewhat grown to like. Everyone in this new world was way more boring: Snow White was way too forgiving, Charming was even stupider than usual, Rumplestiltskinhad stopped scheming altogether and Henry had absolutely no backbone or personality whatsoever. That wasn't enough, though, to make Regina want to leave: as boring as these people were, they loved her now, and she finally had the life she'd always wanted.

 _Regina, I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can please, please come home. We're all lost without you. Henry is blaming himself, and he hides in his room at night to cry. He misses you more than he can tell, I can see it. I miss you too, Regina. I'm sorry I never told you this before, but I really like it better when you're around. I'm sorry that we made you feel like we didn't want you there. I'm sorry you felt like the only way for you to be happy was by going away. If you'll let me, I'll spend the rest of my life apologizing and making it up to you. Regina, please come back._

Regina's days went by slowly. It would have given her time to think, but she tried not to: she found that if she did, she'd start missing "her" Henry and Emma so much breathing became painful. She busied herself with pointless work at the city hall during the day, and made the most of every single moment at home with her family. This world's Emma and Henry may have been ripped of their strength of character, they still had a good heart and were capable to hold standard conversation, and that was enough for Regina to completely surrender to the love she felt for them. In the two weeks she'd been there, she had found some sort of balance and already did not wish to leave it, for it felt like she'd finally found a home.

 _Regina, I've spent the past week looking for information on where you could be. I even went and asked Gold for help. He says you're probably in some sort of place that's identical to here, but where the people are different, more like you'd want them to be… or at least to some extent. Is it what happened, Regina? Did you feel so trapped here, so unloved, that you had to go and hide yourself away with fake people who tell you they love you? I feel so guilty. I should never have let Henry say he hated you; I should never have been so hard on you. Everyone was laying everything on you, and no one even tried to support you. Maybe if I had, you would've stayed? Would it have been enough?_

Regina had suggested they went out on a picnic, as a family. Emma had applauded the idea and had kissed her girlfriend's neck gently, while Henry cheered loudly and ran to get his cap and sunglasses from his room. As she was placing the food in the picnic basket, Regina couldn't help but sigh: back home, "her" Henry would have grumbled something about video games and how lame picnics were, and Emma would have begged not to go because she hated nature. The pain of missing them twisted her insides, and she felt a tear roll down her face. Emma walked back into the kitchen but failed to notice the state Regina was in and simply reached out to take hold of the basket. Regina looked out the window, studying Emma as she loaded the basket in the trunk of the car. How was this better than her previous life?

 _Regina. You have to come back. I know you're brave, and smart. I know you know this life you're living right now is not the real life. This life is easy, and pleasant, and relaxing as hell after all the pain you've been through. But I also know you know that real life isn't always easy, but it's worth it, and you know that too. I understand it's more comfortable for you to stay there, with people who never question you and whose love you never have to doubt. But we love you too, and it kills me that we ever made you doubt it. Please come home. Do the brave thing and come back to us, so we can show you exactly what you mean to us. We can have this great life here too. Just give me a chance to make things better. I love you, Regina, for real. I love all of you, the good and the bad. I've come to terms with all of you, and I love you. We can have this happy family life you so desperately want. Be brave and come home; you'll never be alone here._

Regina had never felt so tired. She was homesick for a place she wasn't even sure existed anymore. Every night in her sleep, she heard "her" Emma's voice telling her she loved her and begging her to come home. "Be brave", she said. "I'll love you like this other Emma never will, because I know you and I accept you." Regina wanted to believe her, but she also wasn't sure how much pain and disappointment she could take before going insane and reverting to the Evil Queen. But as she saw Henry leave for school that morning, gracefully accepting her kiss on his cheek and not complaining that "Mom, I don't need you to kiss me goodbye anymore", she realized she could never be happy here either. If she was cursed to be unhappy, she'd rather it was in a familiar place, with her real son, bad mood and overall teenage grumpiness included. She'd have to figure out exactly how to come back home, but she knew she'd get there eventually: no one could keep her away from her son for too long, and she and Emma had some unfinished business to attend to. She would do the right thing. She closed her eyes to think and somberly muttered, "Be brave."


	7. Day 7: Sugar

_Hello everyone! I can't believe this Swan Queen Week is already over! For my last entry, I've decided on a cooking class AU; I wanted to something short and fun and sweet, and I really hope you like it! As usual, I own nothing but the words I write and the situations I think of._

 _I'd like to take a second to thank all of you who took the time to read, favorite, follow and/or review my stories this week. It means the world to me, so thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I hope you all had a great SQW! Keep rocking, Swen lovelies!_

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"So ladies – and gentlemen too, of course – you'll pair up now, and try to reproduce the recipe! I'll move around to see how you're doing." The cooking class instructor, Mary Margaret, had an overly cheerful smile on her face as she said that. Regina looked around and sighed as she saw the young woman who was walking towards her, with a hopeful expression. In the three weeks since the class started, Regina had not really made friends with anyone, but not from lack of trying. She simply wasn't a people's person. However, she was pretty good at cooking, but the woman walking towards her couldn't be trusted with a pot of water and Regina wasn't in the mood for someone to ruin her culinary efforts.

"Hi, Regina!" God, she even sounded too cheerful to be real.

"Hello, Ms Swan. You look well today."

"Thanks! You look good too! I mean-" Emma blushed deeply. She had a tendency to embarrass herself by speaking without thinking first, and while Regina usually enjoyed making fun of her for it, today was not the day. They'd better start getting to work on this peach cobbler.

Regina started assigning tasks to Emma, instructing her to do the simplest things like fetch sugar and wash the fruit. It soon appeared that Emma was even incapable of doing so: she dropped the peaches at least three times and got the wrong kind of sugar and flour. Twice.

"Miss Swan, are you trying to drive me insane or are you just incredibly incompetent to be trusted with even the simplest tasks?"

Emma raised her arms in surrender, dropping the peaches once more. Luckily, this time they scattered on the countertop and did not land on the floor. "Wow, Regina! Are you sure it wasn't the anger management class you should have signed up for?"

Regina whipped around, her eyes throwing daggers and holding the knife in her hand so tight her phalanges blanched. Emma immediately took a step back, eyes on the knife.

"You don't know anything about me, Miss Swan, so how about you shut up and let me cook, so you don't end up butchering yet another recipe?" Regina snapped.

As Regina went on to peel and cut the peaches, Emma remained completely silent and stared at the tip of her shoes. When Regina dropped the knife, Emma quickly took it and washed it, placing it back in the drawer in record time.

"I'm sorry if what I said upset you, Regina."

Regina huffed but didn't reply, her eyes trained on her mixing bowl.

"You're right; I don't know anything about you. Why did you sign up for this class? You're by far the best cook in here, so I don't really see what you're here to learn…" When Regina kept quiet, Emma went on. "I'm here because my roommate forced me. She signed me up, and she actually drives me here every week to make sure I attend the classes. Ruby says I can't be trusted in a kitchen, and she's right. I one almost set the house on fire by heating chili up in the microwave, but how was I supposed to know microwaves can set cardboard on fire?"

Regina burst out in laughter. It was so unexpected, and Emma realized she'd never heard the other woman laugh before then.

"You… You set fire to your microwave? I feel _so bad_ for your roommate!" Regina wiped her eyes when she stopped laughing. "I have a son, and her just started kindergarten. With Henry at school, I had way too much free time on my hands and needed adult conversation. This class was the only one I could fit in my schedule where we could still sign up."

"I'm sorry you're stuck with me, then. It doesn't help much with the 'adult conversation' thing."

Regina wanted to reply something along the lines of "I'll learn to live with that", but Mary Margaret seemed to materialize next to their counter.

"So, how are you two doing? How is that cobbler coming along?"

Mary Margaret was an incredibly cheerful, optimistic and energetic woman, and she drove Regina crazy. She answered her questions as quickly as possible without looking rude, just so that Mary Margaret would leave. Emma smiled as Regina gave an impressive eye roll while the instructor looked away.

"I feel you. Mary Margaret is nice, but she needs to chill. She's way too intense and… _happy_ all the time! It would drive me insane if I had to see her every day." Emma said.

A sly smile formed on Regina's lips. "Well then, Miss Swan, it looks like we can agree on something after all. Maybe we _can_ get along…"

"Of course we can! Worst case scenario, I'll at least have as much conversation as your son." She passed Regina the butter before going on. "Do you have time for a coffee after class? We could… get to know each other some more? And wow, that sounded even lamer than I thought it would."

Regina looked at Emma, silently surveying her. She then smiled and nodded. "Okay, _Emma_. I have time. Now pass the sugar."


End file.
